MODE IV. ALABASTRITE. 



in Roman luxury, Pliny gives the following ac- 

 count. " Our ancestors thought that onyx was 

 only produced in the mountains of Arabia, and 

 in no other region; but Sudines adds Carmania*. 

 At first only drinking vessels were made of it ; 

 but afterwards the feet of beds, and even seats. 

 Cornelius Nepos says that it was reputed a great 

 wonder when P. Lentulus Spinter displayed am- 

 phorae of onyx as large as Chian casks; yet five 

 years after he saw columns thirty* two feet in 

 length. But from more refinement in the choice 

 of this stone, four columns of a middling size, 

 placed by Cornelius Balbus in his theatre, were 

 esteemed monuments of surprising grandeur. 

 We have seen more than thirty in the dining- 

 hall which Callistus, well known by his power 

 among the freemen of the emperor Claudius, 

 had erected at great expense, 



K" Some have called this stone alabastrite ; and 

 f it little pots or boxes for ointments are formed, 

 as in them it is supposed to be less liable to cor- 

 rupt f. When calcined it is also used for plas- 



* So Brotier's edition : some read Germany. 

 f Hence the name, which implies what cannot be taken hold 

 of; because, as commonly supposed, these little pots had no han- 

 dles. But may it not imply the slippery smoothness of the pot or 

 of the stone ? 



Nardi parvus onyx. HOR. 



